Yesterday, the Moscow-based Russian Orthodox Church and the New York-based Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia (ROCOR) reunified after 90 years. The ceremony was held on 17 May at Moscow’s Christ the Saviour Cathedral.There, Russian Orthodox Patriarch Aleksey II and ROCOR Metropolitan Lavr formally signed a document restoring relations and then celebrated a joint service.
ROCOR broke away from the Russian Orthodox Church in Russia when the Revolution began in 1917. White Russian bishops set up a separate Church body first in Stavropol, then in Karlovac in Yugoslavia. The body moved to its current headquarters on East 93rd Street in Manhattan in the late 1930s.
ROCOR today claims 500,000 members in over 30 countries. The Russian Orthodox Church is the largest Orthodox Church in the world.Ties with Moscow were severed completely in 1927, when the then-Patriarch of Moscow formally declared his loyalty to the Soviet regime. Supporters said he acted to preserve the Church in Russia; opponents saw it as treachery.
Even though the two Churches will now be reunified, the ROCOR will maintain its separateness. In fact, it seems that little will actually change other than ROCOR acknowledging the leadership of the Patriarch of Moscow.
Of course, now there is the risk of ROCOR believers resisting the reunification and splitting of themselves, but talk of that is being downplayed. Another controversy concerns the role of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
3 comments:
Talk of those who resist the "union" may be downplayed, but it is happening nonetheless! To put it simply, many in ROCOR want absolutely nothing to do with the sergianist (a church completely ied into the government and taking orders from it), ecumenist (a church that denies the uniqueness of Orthodoxy, and denies that the Orthodox Church is the True Church of Christ-whether in word or deed), and KGB-dominated (the KGB dominated the Moscow Patiriarchate for decades, with the top leadership-Alexey II, Kirill (Gundayev), Filaret of Ukraine, Filaret of Belarus, etc etc etc., were most definitely agents of the KGB under communism; today, they take their marching orders from the former KGB agents who run Russia) Moscow Patriarchate. Many beleieve that the Moscow Patriarchate is NOT an Orthodoxc Church at all, but a graceless institution that exists solely to serve the policies of the totalitarian Russian state.
Quote:
"Ties with Moscow were severed completely in 1927, when the then-Patriarch of Moscow formally declared his loyalty to the Soviet regime."
You should know better! There was NO Patriarch of Moscow in 1927; Metropolitan Sergius (Stragorodsky) was "Locum Tenens"of the Patriarchal Throne, but was not elected Patirarch until Stalin allowed an election to take place in 1943. It might be noted that in that year, the ROCOR held a Bishop's Sobor in Vienna, Austria, where it declared the election of Sergius as Patriarch "null and void," because the election had been engineered NOT by the Church, but bythe communist government, and Sergius had been placedin power by the government.
Does anyone know how the hierarchy of the ROC goes? Or a site on which to find this infor? Thanks!
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